Blog

Whew, what a crazy week! The WriteOnCon online conference has been a whirlwind, and it's been great learning from pros, chatting with other writers and honing the craft. And holy crap, was anyone else part of the madness that was the opening of the live YA MG Pitch Forum Event with Carlie Webber and Christina Hogrebe? I literally had to stop on the side of the freeway to get my Twitter pitch posted!

I also recently scored a blog award I've been oogling for ages: the Blog on Fire Award, from the lovely and talented Cherie of Ready. Write. Go. Not only is she a great blogging buddy, but she looks EXACTLY like the main character in my novel The Mermaid Gene. I'm serious. It's freakish.

The purpose of the Blog on Fire Award is to stoplight up and coming bloggers who deserve acknowledgement for all the hard work and dedication they put into their craft. There actually aren't any rules associated with this one, so I'm just going to pick five great bloggers and call it a night. Feel free to pay this award forward if you like, or you can just enjoy the fun!

1. Kalen O'Donnell... He's too nice too brag, but the guy literally has FOURTEEN full manuscripts out right now. He's also written like 300 books, so he's pretty much set for life at this point.

2. Lori M. Lee... Both of our main characters are named Kai, and Lori just scored a request from a big-time agent during one of today's WriteOnCon live events. The best part? The manuscript isn't even ready yet--and she told the agent that--but the agent loves it enough that she's willing to wait!

3. Jenny Phresh... is one of those people you don't want to go on a double-date with, because she's so damn snarky and hilarious that both dudes would totally pick her over you.

4. An Alleged Author... She is a fantastic writer, and I'm so glad Deana Barnhart's GUTGAA blogfest brought us together. She's also been ripping up WriteOnCon, and she is definitely one to watch!

5. Michelle Fayard... gives fantastic editing advice, and her website is one of the best resources I've found for aspiring writers.

Lisa Ann O'Kane is a young adult author and former vagabond who once camped out in Yosemite National Park for an entire summer, an experience that inspired her debut novel Essence (Strange Chemistry, June 2014).